


Following the Wolf

by goingtothetardis



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Bad Wolf, Canon Divergence, Dark and mysterious forests, Dimension-Hopping Rose, F/M, Prompt Fic, Reunion, wolf - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 16:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10517790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goingtothetardis/pseuds/goingtothetardis
Summary: Rose lands on a mysterious planet while dimension hopping and encounters some unexpected help.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CaricatureOfAWitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaricatureOfAWitch/gifts).



> Chocolate-and-fandoms on tumblr prompted: **Petrichor** \- The smell of dry rain on the ground.
> 
> I've been picking at this fic for aaaages. It just wasn't working in the original version, so this morning I rewrote the beginning and the rest of it just flowed. I hope you like it!!
> 
> Unbeta'd, so please excuse any mistakes.

The cannon ejects Rose onto the ground, the energy so powerful it buckles her knees, and she falls forward onto her face with a grunt, the breath forced from her lungs.

It takes her a moment to get her bearings. This journey through the void was worse than any other thus far, the force of it almost making her feel as though her body was about to explode in a thousand tiny fragments. She needs to find the Doctor – _and soon_ – because she fears the consequence of her jumps might one day destroy her. 

Rose shuts down those dark thoughts and returns to the present, carefully checking her body for injuries and studying her surroundings. 

The first thing she notices is that it smells like rain, as though just recently scant drops scattered on parched ground. It’s somewhere near, the storm – it’s not actually raining on her – and the air is heavy with anticipation of events to come. 

Rose’s attention immediately shifts to her body, which, save for a few bruises from her heavy landing, feels intact as she wiggles her toes and tightens and relaxes her muscles. 

Once satisfied that she’s still in one piece, Rose sits up with a groan and focuses on her environment. She’s in a vast field surrounded by a dark forest. Rain is eminent, that much is clear. Her fingers run across dry grass, and a strong breeze blows through trees, the sound soothing and calming. Save for a dull rumble of thunder in the distance and the wind, it’s eerily silent, devoid of forest life one usually hears in such a place. 

She pats her leather jacket down to ensure its contents are safe before check the two most important items. Her TARDIS key is nestled safely between her breasts, still hanging from the unbreakable Loratian chain the Doctor gave her years ago, and the dimension hopper remote wraps snugly around her wrist. Breathing a sigh of relief, Rose leans back on her hands and closes her eyes, taking a few more minutes to recover from the jump.

A terrifying crack startles her into action, and Rose flies to her feet. The sky has darkened further in the last few minutes, and Rose curses, knowing she still has a good thirty minutes before her remote is recharged. 

A flash of jagged lightning pierces the sky and thunder rumbles immediately after. _Shit._ She needs to find cover. Rose looks toward the forest, unease trickling through her veins. It’s dark and spooky, with trees pressing tightly together. It reminds her of Fangorn Forest from Lord of the Rings, in the films she used to watch with the Doctor. 

But despite her unease, she needs some sort of protective cover, and as the skies open up, unleashing a cascade of rain, Rose sprints toward the forest. 

Rose shakes the raindrops off her head and jacket once under the protective cover of dense trees and looks around. It’s quiet here, too, and she realizes most critters are in hiding from the storm. Occasional drops of water drip from leaves and branches above her, but overall, the trees provide adequate cover from the storm. 

Curiosity piqued, Rose decides to venture further into the forest. She steps cautiously over logs and tries to find any hint of a path, all the while keeping her eyes and ears trained for any sound out of the ordinary. But still, there’s nothing but the now distant sound of thunder and dripping rain. 

It’s unnerving in more ways than one, and after several minutes Rose begins to imagine non existent sounds and shadows. Her jumps with the dimension canon have heightened her senses, forced her to become hyper aware of her surroundings for her own self-preservation. And right now that protective instinct is in overdrive. 

Still, she ventures onward, her curiosity of this place overwhelming that tiny part of her advising her to sit and wait. After a while, Rose decides to check the timer on her remote and stops still when the display tells her she’s been wandering through this forest for over three hours. 

_Three hours?_

Suddenly, the silence presses in on her, and Rose closes her eyes, willing the panic to disappear so she can set her remote and go back to Torchwood. It’s time to go.

When she opens her eyes and focuses on the sight in front of her, Rose screams, the sound quickly devoured by the forest. A massive wolf covered in a golden-brown coat of fur stands majestically before her, staring at her with dark eyes. It’s close enough that she can see flecks of gold glinting in its irises, even in the darkness of the woods. 

Rose stops breathing and freezes, trying to avoid any movement that might startle the wolf. A wolf. _A wolf._ There’s been no sign of life for hours, and suddenly a wolf appears from out of nowhere in front of her. 

When she feels like she can’t hold her breath a second longer, she starts breathing again, but the breaths are short and shallow. The wolf still hasn’t moved and doesn’t appear to show any signs of aggression. Relaxing infinitesimally, she shifts from one foot to the other, and its eyes follow her movements. 

“Are you dangerous?” Rose asks, feeling as though she’s asking a stupid question. 

It doesn’t answer, of course, but continues to stare at her, like it’s looking into her soul rather than just at her physical body. It’s more than little disconcerting, and the longer she stands in this stalemate with the wolf, faint memories of another wolf in her past seep through her mind.  
_The Bad Wolf_. 

“Bad Wolf,” she whispers, the words falling out of her mouth unbidden. At her words, however, the wolf tenses, the hair on its hackles rising as it crouches low, preparing to pounce. 

Rose closes her eyes, waiting for the inevitable attack, but it never comes. Instead, there’s a rush of wind over her head, and a soft thud behind her. With caution, Rose turns around and faces the wolf. It’s facing away from her, but after a moment, the wolf turns its head toward her and howls. 

The sound reverberates through her body and awakens some instinct inside she didn’t know existed. Rose steps forward toward the wolf and gently – oh so gently – threads her fingers through the thick fur on top of the wolf’s head. It growls quietly, welcoming her touch, before walking away on a set path, visible to no one but itself. 

Without question, Rose follows, somehow knowing she’s meant to do so. Forgotten on her wrist, the relaunch cycle on her remote runs out and switches to standby mode with a beep. She ignores it, almost annoyed by the out of place noise in this place, and continues to follow the wolf. 

After a time, the wolf enters a clearing, a small meadow surrounded by the dark forest. The sun shines here, the storm left behind, and it’s alive with the sounds of insects and other woodland creatures. Rose stops at the edge, still within the shadow of the forest, and waits as the wolf roams around the outer edge of the meadow. Every now and then it stops, sniffing the air, and then continues its walk. When the wolf is back at her side, it pierces Rose with a knowing gaze and howls again, before darting from her side and sprinting away. Within seconds, the wolf disappears in the forest on the opposite side of the meadow, leaving Rose standing in bewilderment and shock, heart racing. 

The howl of the wolf stilled the cheerful buzz of activity in the meadow, and for a few moments, there’s an uneasy silence. 

Until a very familiar sound grates into existence out of nowhere. 

_The TARDIS._

It can’t be. 

The key between her breasts warms, and Rose pulls it out with breathless hope, staring between the middle of the meadow where a familiar blue box sharpens into substance and her key, which shines brightly in a way it hadn’t since being separated from the TARDIS. 

Frozen in place with surprise, Rose is filled with indescribable joy when the door slams open and her Doctor, the one with the _really_ great hair and unstoppable gob, steps out of ship. 

Even from a distance, Rose can hear his enthusiastic description of the planet as he gestures grandly around him to a yet unseen companion behind him. “And this, Donna Noble, is Rfutio Nine, home to the legendary forests of–” He stops and stares as he spots her lingering at the edge of the meadow. 

A red-headed woman, clearly Donna, steps out behind him. “The legendary forests of what, Spaceman? Cat got your tongue?”

“Doctor,” Rose whispers under her breath, and she knows he heard when he shifts his body in her direction, his eyes widening in shock as he peers into the shadows. 

“Rose…” She barely hears her name, but he says it, definitely. And judging by the shock and disbelief written on his face, she’s at an appropriate place in his timeline to reunite with him. Donna gapes at the Doctor a moment before following his gaze, and she covers her mouth with a hand. 

Suddenly, whatever force keeping her stationary snaps free, and she’s sprinting across the meadow toward the Doctor, a mile-wide smile stretched across her face. After a moment and a small shake of his head, he surges forward as well, limbs flying as he runs toward Rose.

The collide in a forceful embrace, hands wandering and mouths pressing happy kisses wherever they find skin. Rose can’t help the tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she murmurs words of love and joy to the Doctor, who in turn wonders over the impossibility of their reunion. Finally, the initial frantic touches of their reunion slows, and they simply hold each other, arms tight and sure. 

Pulling back slightly, the Doctor pushes the hair back from her face and leans down to kiss her properly for the first time. It’s light and chaste, but there’s promise in the way he runs his thumb over her bottom lip, after. “Rose,” he starts, voice low and gravely, “I never got to finish my sentence.”

The tears flow freely again at his words – because _finally_ – and she smiles up at him through her tears. “Yeah?” she asks. 

“Yes,” he replies, nodding with conviction. “I love you. And I’m never letting you go again.”


End file.
